O.W.

Debating the Brit style! Sending a message to Europe!

September 5, 2017 | O.W.

P.:

Today’s day was one of the most interesting of the workshop project. We got two experts from the Free University of Berlin who taught us how to properly debate in British parliamentary style, with creating our arguments, defending them and establishing some outputs. Afterwards we were supposed to create an imaginary project that could explain to people what being European really means. Our goal was to raise awareness about what means to be European. In our way of thinking it means a lot of common freedoms, such as freedom of expression, love, movement and market. We would like to spread pros of being EU citizens to the media so people could think more positively about it.

E.:

Today’s day brought us in my opinion some of the greatest practical experiences that we can successfully apply in our everyday life. It was only the third time in my life that I participated in debates but it was definitely the most memorable one. We were lucky to get very experienced and professional experts from the Free University of Berlin that gave us a great introduction to the idea behind the British Parliamentary debate style. Afterwards we debated in 2 groups about whether the EU needs a unified history curriculum in schools. While I thought the topic was far from being realistic I really enjoyed the challenge of coming up with the arguments for the side that I actually personally would not agree with. This really made me think out of the box. Also the presentation of my points itself was a challenging part since I had to open the debates on the governmental side. I will definitely adopt the practical tips provided by our experts for real-life situations where I need to defend my opinion.

Then we also had an opportunity today with our national German group to make a project proposal to the EU citizens. We decided to elaborate on one of the topics we discussed in our very first seminar day, namely on hate speech. Our main project goal was to sensitize pupils of 14 years and older about hate speech in the social media and how to deal with it. The idea is to have specially equipped vans with materials on hate speech that drive from school to school and educate pupils on the topic. Another idea was to organize meetings with the journalists and experts from the local media that can give useful input on hate speech in the (social) media. While this was all only a proposal, our team enjoyed the idea of designing a project that would be applicable at the EU level.

Overall, I can personally evaluate today as the most helpful of the whole seminar exchange since I really found most of the things learned today practically applicable and useful to know.